Call of Duty – it's always the same. That's the familiar lament on games forums whenever a new instalment is revealed, though it may have to be tempered somewhat if news coming from Black Ops 2 developer Treyarch is to be believed. Activision has now officially announced the title as well as its global launch date: 13 November. But its the details emerging from a recent demo to the specialst games press that will prove much more interesting right now.

Set mostly in 2025 (with a few flashback missions to the eighties), Black Ops II revolves around a new Cold War between the US and China. The two super powers are fighting it out over access to rare earth minerals – vital components in modern technogical necessities like mobile phones – and tensions are mounting.

Meanwhile, a terrorist group led by mysterious antagonist Menendez has managed to hack into America's defense network, taking control of its now vast drone army. Suddenly all those remote control aircraft and formidably armed robot walkers are attacking major US cities – the only hope lies with a hopelessly archaic weapon: human soldiers.

The story is speculative and futuristic, but it seems there are direct narrative links with the first title. The launch trailer is narrated by Frank Woods, the SoG sergeant who appeared to sacrifice himself at the close of the original title. According to game news site CVG, however, the lead playable character is David Mason, son of Alex Mason the ambiguous hero of the first Black Ops. The leaps back to the eighties will include a stint in Afghanistan, as shown in the horse riding section of the reveal trailer.

The key addition seems to be a new branching story structure. Reports from the games press, including IGN, suggest that at certain points in the single-player campaign, players will have to make tactical and perhaps even moral choices, which will lead to different outcomes. Failing certain tasks will have ramifications for the overall battle, and for the fate of key characters, adding to the replay value. It's also possible that, as events unfold, players may have to decide whether they view Menendez as an out-and-out enemy or even as a sympathetic character.

The campaign is also set to feature Strike Force missions, which work like mini-RTS (real-time strategy) levels. Players are thrust into a sandbox battlefield where they're able to swap control between different units – seemingly including mech walkers, tanks and ground troops – as they coordinate the offensive. It looks like players will get to select different Strike Force missions at different times, adding to the slight non-linearity of the mode.

The zombie survival mode has been a popular element of Treyarch's CoD games for a few years, and there are no words on the latest incarnation – just that there will be one. Multiplayer is also being kept under wraps until E3. Weapons, meanwhile, will strike a balance between familiar modern day models and sci-fi blasters. It looks like one will be a sniper rifle with a sight that lets the user see through walls and a charged shot that fires straight through them as well.

So, this is a Call of Duty game with different story outcomes depending on your actions – not just in terms of choices but in terms of your abilities; it might be that failing certain tasks will have a major outcome on where the plot goes. And even more surprisingly, it's a Call of Duty title with elements of real-time strategy in its campaign mode.

Sure, none of this is exactly revolutionary – the strategy stuff and near-future themes are effectively straying into the path of Ubisoft's more cerebral Ghost Recon series. But this could well be an important step toward altering the now extremely familiar recipe of the CoD brand.